Damian Austin, Cuban Amateur Star

[williefromrichmond]

DAMIAN AUSTIN

Born November 30, 1974

Las Tunas, Cuba

Southpaw stance

1992

Sept. 28 - Radoslav Suslekov W pts 8-4
(Bulgaria)
Sept. 30 - Alan Abounakad W pts 10-1
(Australia)
Oct. 2 - Ik-Soo Kim (South Korea) W pts 9-3
Oct. 4 - Wald Fleming (Canada) W pts 17-8
World Junior 60kg champ; Montreal, Canada.

1993

Jan. 21 - Saturnino Herrera W pts 17-6
(Cuba)
Jan. 24 - Andres Castillo (Cuba) W pts 8-0
Jan. 26 - Diosvelys Hurtado L pts -3 +3
(Cuba). Playa Giron 60kg semifinalist; Matanzas, Cuba.
Feb. 28 - Swietoslaw Aleksandrov W pts 12-10
(Bulgaria). Strandjata 60kg champion; Gabrovo, Bulgaria.
Mch. - Marco Rudolph L pts 4-14
(Germany). Chemie Pokal 60kg finalist; Halle, Germany.
May - Julio Gonzalez (Cuba) L pts
Giraldo Cordova Cardin 60kg finalist; Sancti Spiritus, Cuba.
May 5 - His record: 106-18.
May 6 - Aidouz Sultanov W pts 11-6
(Uzbekistan)
May 11 - Marco Rudolph W pts 11-5
(Germany). Austin “ousted Rudolph with superior hand speed” (European Stars and Stripes 5-12-93:31).
May - Mark Winters (Ireland) W pts 10-7
May 14 - Tibor Rafael W w/o
(Slovakia)
May 15 -Larry Nicholson (USA) W pts 6-2
World 60kg champion; Tampere, Finland. “During the entire lightweight final, Nicholson chased Austin, who circled and showed excellent defense, ducking every single hook thrown. Nicholson tied the score 1-1 in the second round as he connected with a left cross, but Austin responded with a straight left moments later that earned him a 2-1 edge and then pulled away early in the third round” (Pacific Stars and Stripes 5-17-93:31).
Sept. - Larry Nicholson (USA) W pts 3-2
Cuba vs. USA; Biloxi, Mississippi, USA.

1996

Jan. - Mulradis Rodriguez (Cuba) L pts Playa Giron 63.5kg semifinalist; Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
June - Guillermo Saputo W pts 6-0
(Argentina)
June - Freddy Dominguez (Cuba) W pts
Copa Pedro Soto Alba 67kg champion; Moa, Cuba.

1997

Jan. - Joel Delva (Cuba) W pts
Feb. 5 - Robert Guerra (Cuba) W pts 11-1
Playa Giron 63.5kg champion; Holguin, Cuba.

1998

Jan. - Glendys Hernandez L pts
(Cuba). Playa Giron 67kg _______; Santa Clara, Cuba.
June 1 - Jose Abantos (Peru) W ret 2
June 3 - Samir Bendoc (Algeria) W pts 16-0
June 4 - Lorenzo Aragon (Cuba) W pts 4-3
Giraldo Cordova Cardin 63.5kg champion; Havana, Cuba.
July 28 - Ricardo Williams, Jr. L pts 2-6
(USA). Goodwill Games 63.5kg quarterfinalist; New York City, New York, USA.

2000

July 27 - Pornchai Thongburan W pts 15-3
(Thailand)
July 28 - Juan Hernandez Sierra W pts 5-3
(Cuba)
July 30 - Carlos Romero (Cuba) W pts 8-1
Giraldo Cordova Cardin 71kg champion; Las Tunas, Cuba.

2001

Jan. 24 - Alexei Maximo (Cuba) W pts 7-0
Jan. 25 - Pedro Sandoval (Cuba) W pts 12-1
Jan. 26 - Yaikel Blanco (Cuba) W pts 9-1
Jan. 29 - Pedro Valdes (Cuba) W pts 3-0
Playa Giron 71kg champion; Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
Apr. 5 - Antonio Alves Ferreira W pts 5-0
(Brazil)
Apr. 6 - Hector Waldemar Arriola W pts 6-1
(Guyana)
Apr. 8 - Jefferson Montanez W pts 2-0
(Venezuela)
Apr. 10 - Sullivan Barrera W pts 12-2
(Cuba). Giraldo Cordova Cardin 71kg champion; Holguin, Cuba.
June 4 - His record: approximately
190-20.
June 5 - Matthew Thirlwall W pts 13-6
(England). Thirlwall “chased the unusually cautious Austin in each of the four rounds. This means that Thirlwall was exposed to accurate counter punches. Austin was trailing after one round, but as he backed effortlessly from rope to rope it was clear that ten years of international experience is the most important element in the amateur sport. Thirlwall won the first and drew the last on the computer scoring system, but in the third which started with him trailing by just one point, he was repeatedly caught as he tried to overcome Austin’s skill by pressing forward. It was a risk, it never worked and when round three ended he was down by seven points and the fight was lost” (London Independent 6-6-01).
June - Anatoli Kavtaradze W rsc 3
(Georgia)
June - Sechew Powell (USA) W pts 21-13
June - Ciro Di Corcia (Italy) W pts 22-16
June 10 - Marian Simion W pts 28-19
(Romania). World 71kg champion; Belfast, Northern Ireland. Austin “used all his fancy footwork and slick southpaw counters” to beat Simion (CBS Sports 6-10-01).
Sept. 7 - Viktor Polyakov W pts 12-6
(Ukraine)
Sept. 9 - Marian Simion W pts 10-9
(Romania). Goodwill Games 71kg champion; Brisbane, Australia.
Nov. - W
Copa Pedro Soto Alba 71kg champion; Moa, Cuba.

2002

Jan. 23 - Aldo Moreno (Cuba) W pts 9-1
Jan. 24 - Carlos Onate (Cuba) W pts 7-0
Jan. 26 - Yislan Barrera (Cuba) W pts 11-1
Jan. 27 - Yudiel Napoles (Cuba) W pts 11-2
Jan. 30 - Daniel Hurtado W pts 8-3
(Cuba). Playa Giron 71kg champion; Las Tunas, Cuba.
Feb. - Serdar Ustuner W pts 11-6
(Turkey)
Feb. - Sroch Naimov W pts 27-10
(Uzbekistan)
Feb. 24 - Andrei Mishlin (Russia) W pts 23-19
Strandjata 71kg champion; Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Mch. - Karel Vrtiska (Czech W rsc 3
Republic)
Mch. - Andriel Permiakov W pts 15-2
(Kazakhstan)
Mch. 3 - Mohamed Hikal (Egypt) W pts 9-7
Grand Prix 71kg champion; Usti, Czech Republic.
Mch. - Eduard Gutknecht W pts 9-6
(Germany)
Mch. 9 - Gennady Golovkin W pts +8 -8
(Kazakhstan). Chemie Pokal 71kg champion; Halle, Germany. Austin won on points 50-37.
Apr. 26 - Maratzhan Akimbayev W pts 8-2
(Kazakhstan)
Apr. 27 - Mariano Betermi W pts 6-2
(Dominican Republic)
Apr. 30 - Daniel Hurtado W pts 6-0
(Cuba). Giraldo Cordova Cardin 71kg champion; Pinar del Rio, Cuba.
June 3 - Jamie Pittman W pts 16-3
Cuba vs. Australia; Astana, Kazakhstan.
June - Bulent Ulusoy W w/o
Cuba vs. Turkey; Astana, Kazakhstan.
June - Waiyavit Narerak W pts 9-3
Cuba vs. Thailand; Astana, Kazakhstan.
June 8 - Gennady Golovkin L pts 4-6
Cuba vs. Kazakhstan. World Cup 71kg champion; Astana, Kazakhstan.
Dec. 4 - Yudiel Napoles (Cuba) W pts 12-4
Dec. 6 - Maikel Perez (Cuba) W pts 9-5
Cuban National Olympiad 71kg champion; Havana, Cuba.

2003

Jan. - Glendys Hernndez (Cuba) W pts 5-4 Jan. - Gerardo Castano (Cuba) L w/o Playa Giron 75kg _______; Holguin, Cuba. Suffered a cut eye and was unable to box. Article noted that Austin’s skill had noticeably declined from his previous level, however.

Information courtesy of amateur boxing historians Matt Mizerski and Santiago Nieva. Mizerski remembers Damian Austin as being “very talented and skillful, with a long reach and very accurate punches. He had good reaction time and coordination, but was a troublemaker outside of the ring.”